Lighter payloads have a place in every serious clay shooter's vest, and the Clever Club Load 12 Gauge 2-3/4" 7/8 oz shotshell is a textbook example of why. We carry this load because it answers a real question for shooters who want less recoil, faster swing-through, and more practice rounds in a single session without sacrificing the Italian build quality that has put Clever on the line at major shoots around the world. If you've been hunting for a softer-shooting target shell that still patterns like it means business, this is the box to pull off the shelf.

Manufactured at Clever's Verona, Italy facility, this 7/8 ounce target load drops the payload weight roughly 22 percent compared to a traditional 1-1/8 oz trap and skeet shell. That reduction translates directly into a noticeably gentler recoil pulse, which is exactly what newer shooters, youth competitors, smaller-framed shooters, and high-volume practice shooters tell us they want. Less punishment per pull means cleaner follow-through, better second-shot recovery on true pairs, and the ability to shoot a full league night or weekend tournament without your shoulder writing checks your scorecard can't cash.

Why The Lighter Payload Earns Its Place

Clever's Club Load family is built around the needs of shooting clubs, school programs, and youth leagues, where introducing new shooters to the sport without scaring them off is half the battle. A 7/8 oz load loaded to standard target velocities produces felt recoil that approaches a 20-gauge experience while still giving you the broader patterns and more forgiving choke performance that a 12-gauge bore provides. Coaches running scholastic clay programs often cite this exact payload weight as the sweet spot for developing shooters who have outgrown a 20-gauge but aren't ready for full 1-1/8 oz target loads.

The shells use hardened Italian lead shot that resists deformation through the bore, which is the quiet secret behind Clever's reputation for consistent patterns. Round pellets fly true; deformed pellets spin off into the fringe and lose energy. Pair that with a clean-burning propellant and an eight-point crimp closure that opens predictably on firing, and you get the kind of round-to-round consistency that actually helps you diagnose your shooting rather than blaming the ammo.

Specifications

• Gauge: 12 Gauge

• Shell Length: 2-3/4 inch (70mm)

• Shot Weight: 7/8 ounce

• Shot Material: Hardened lead

• Crimp: 8-point fold crimp

• Quantity: 25 rounds per box

• Manufacturer: Clever (Verona, Italy)

Where This Load Shines

On the 16-yard trap line and the skeet field, 7/8 oz target loads have a long history of producing winning scores in the hands of shooters who understand that pattern quality beats raw pellet count when the gun fits and the shot is well-executed. For practice volume, this is the load that lets you put twice as many rounds downrange for the same shoulder fatigue, and we both know that trigger time is the real currency of better scores.

Smaller-statured shooters, recoil-sensitive shooters returning to the sport after an injury, and parents introducing kids to the trap club all find this payload weight a welcome relief. The same goes for warm-weather dove hunting over decoyed fields and water holes, where a soft-recoiling 12-gauge load is plenty effective inside typical shotgun ranges without beating you up over a long afternoon in the blind.

Clever earned its reputation in Italy by building shells for shooters who count their rounds by the case rather than the box, and the Club Load brings that same factory discipline to a price point that makes practice realistic. Stack a few cases in the garage, save the hulls for handloading later, and put the savings toward a coaching session or a new choke tube. That's how scores actually move.